Freshman Reed Sheppard has managed to stay “cool and humble” despite his extraordinary success this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Maggie Davis of WLEX-TV spends a lot of time with University of Kentucky athletes in her role on “BBN Tonight,” a 30-minute show on UK sports that airs Monday through Friday nights on WLEX.
She appreciates what freshman Reed Sheppard has done this season.
“Kentucky fans were going to love that kid no matter what. He did not have to be this good to beloved,” Davis said. “Him playing his role and having the best season of any of the Kentucky freshmen has been a Kentucky fan’s dream and I love his attitude about it all.
“I can’t imagine myself in his position, but Reed has been living with that for a long time. He has played in big games with huge expectations and his parents on TV, so for him this season has just been like another day at the office. He’s just so chill about it all. He’s just so normal, so humble despite all he’s doing.”
Former UK All-American Jack Givens calls Sheppard the “calming force” on the team.
“You can put him in when nothing is going right and he kind of grabs the guys together,” Givens, the UK Radio Network analyst, said. “It seems everybody relaxes and starts to play.
“He will never be the quickest player or jump the highest but he is a difference maker. I saw him play I don’t know how many times in high school and was not quite sure he could play like this at this level. He has erased any doubts I had.
“He is thinking the pass ahead before he gets the ball. His head is always up surveying the floor. It has also been fun to watch his evolution on defense as he’s adjusted on both ends of the court to make himself a special player.”
National media members are just as impressed — or maybe even more impressed — with Sheppard.
“He makes everyone better when he is on the floor for Kentucky. He is as good as any player in the country making plays in transition,” New York Daily news columnist Dick “Hoops” Weiss said about Sheppard.
Sheppard had been in a mild “slump” before exploding again in the second half against Arkansas Saturday when he scored all 14 of his points to lead UK’s comeback win.
Sheppard was 5-for-7 from the field in the second half but also had four of his five assists, three of his four rebounds and two of his four steals in the second half.
Sheppard helped ice the game with a pair of free throws with 39 seconds left.
He is averaging 11.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game while shooting 54.3 percent overall, 55.3 percent from 3 and 81.8 percent at the foul line.
26 Responses
Sheppard is a very special player. Unfortunately, he does not fit the bill for one of Calipari’s Pets.
Sheppard is a very good player and a lot of fun to watch. However, him making others better goes both ways. He has other very good players around him as well. You can’t look good if the rest of the team can’t play.
How many assists would he have had in the first half if someone could have made a basket? He couldn’t even make a basket, either. South Carolina is a good example of how this team looks when no one is playing good. Good players keep playing and it will come around.
Having so many good players on this team is good for all of them and Sheppard is very good at exploiting what the other team gives him. Hard to be good if you are the only one the other team has to guard.
So you discount all of his success as a high school player, where he was not surrounded by all this talent?
Sure he can do things now, that he couldn’t do then, because he has options that he did not have then. But, unlike many high school and even AAU players, he has made the most of the increased opportunities, and the increased level of competition… on both ends of the court.
Therein lies the problem, Professor. Waggoner and Dillingham are being upstaged by an unheralded white kid who, in their minds, wasn’t even supposed to play that much. Edwards and Bradshaw have not been able to translate their high school game into the college game. Now, a seldom used reserve from last year’s team is outplaying an imported lottery pick. God only knows what kind of promises were made to get these kids to sign with UK. Now those promises are being broken, playing time is diminishing (Jimmy, that means getting less), and stardom is being thrust upon the "wrong" player. Egos and aspirations (Jimmy, that means desires), of being NBA lottery picks are being decimated, (Jimmy, that means destroyed). The 4 Amigos are turning to one on one play and sulking, (Jimmy, well you know what that means since that’s all you do), when things don’t go their way, and Z is trying to catchup having missed half of the season. Now phantom, (Jimmy, that means fake…like you knowing anything about basketball), injuries and illnesses are popping up, the team has played it’s worst 2 games of the season, and Florida and Tennessee are coming to town. Can Calipari get this train back on the track, (Jimmy, that’s a metaphor for the team…uh oh, you don’t know what metaphor means either…ask the nearest intelligent person you know), we will find out this week. See Jimmy, this is how you provide intelligent perspective on a situation while putting a loudmouthed redneck in his place at the same time. So endeth the lesson.
Barry , Do you have any proof that the players were promise to anything. Come on now no such thing!!
Cal has NEVER made any promises to ANY player about playing time. on the 30 for 30 special on our hall of fame coach, Anthony Davis said Cal made no promises whatsoever about playing time or anything else. I have heard numerous players over the years(inc. parents of players) make the same statement. He promises nothing to these kids. Barry is literally the worst kind of UK fan. He does not deserve to enjoy this incredible season we are all enjoying. His hatred agenda for Cal is tired and completely unfounded. Go Cats!!!
Wouldn’t call this season incredible.
I don’t what the hell you been watching, just because they had two medicare games doesn’t define what they have accomplished so far. This team is fun to watch and if you or others don’t enjoy it don’t need to be watching basketball period. Get on another bandwagon.Geez!
Cats79 Barry runs his mouth so he can hear himself. Complaining on another post about we have too many players and not enough minutes. Jealousy on the team. I bet he was one of the gang back in August whining about the Cats not going to have enough players to practice. Barry is one of the many that makes up lies to stir up trouble in the world today. He should run for office. Do great in Ky. That "white kid" comment sounded racist.
All that "I’m smarter then you talk" kind of goes out the window when you spell Wagner wrong by adding an extra g and an o to his name. First, Dillingham and Shep are very close friends and LOVE playing together. Dillingham is not being upstaged, he was sick. Wagner played under much better control in the second half influenced by Sheppard. These guys are kids. They are learning. Cal isn’t the best x’s and o’s guy out there for sure.. He just now sees Onyenso and Sheppard are the guys deserving the minutes. I saw it a few weeks ago… Just no need to belittle someone whose opinion does not align with yours. Now, I am sick of Edwards getting all the minutes. Thiero plays so much harder than he does it’s not funny. Edwards has regressed… So has Bradshaw…. We have a lot of talent on this team for sure….
As I said, God only knows what kind of promises have been made, but when these kids aren’t lottery picks this Summer, it won’t surprise me if more light gets shed on that area. If Calipari is all that great, why should it bother you that I don’t like him? I am not alone, in fact, if you listen to the call in shows there are thousands who feel the way I do. You Calipari lovers can keep on waving your pom poms and let this NBA pimp continue to degrade our program. As for me, I am doing all I can to get this fraud out of here. Now I am really going to make you Calipari lovers squeal…let’s give Billy Clyde another chance!
Good God man, would you please shut up. You need to go change your diaper, or tampon or something. Jeez.
Tampon? Seriously?
Worst Kind Of Fan!!!!
Wow!!!!
That is quite a slur against another fan based on what?
Professor, if you say anything critical about Calipari, you should get the death penalty according to the some of the Calipari lovers. It’s so ridiculous that I tweak their noses for the fun of it sometimes.
AMEN BARRY@! FAKE FRAUD CALIPARI
Cal is far from a disappointment as a coach! All of the other coaches have learned to be much better because of him. It is difficult for a team with this many superb players to consistently play together. That was evident during the South Carolina game when most of them reverted to their high school game. I couldn’t believe how there were so little assists in the game. I have been a UK fan for way over 50 years and always supported the team during the best and worst of times. I find it hard to listen to the fair 🌊 season type of fans. Yes we have lost to teams that we should of dominated but all teams suffer from the same.
I suppose that all teams have ups and downs. That is one of the fundamental lesson about life as well that sports can teach. However, that does not mean all teams are equal.
The problem with this UK team, as well as all UK teams for several seasons, it is not competitive on a national stage (final four contender). That is because its average quality of play is not good enough to be on that stage.
Calipari is happy whether UK is competitive on a national stage or not. He gets his $$$$s, and he gets to go to the NBA Draft EVERY JUNE. Afterall, he did tell us in year 1 that the most important date on the calendar is DRAFT DAY.
That is the problem. Whether UK is competitive on the national stage is way down his list of priorities, if it is even on his list at all.
Okay Cal haters let me ask you this do think the next coach is going to be any different of trying luring high recruits to make there dreams come true as well. Duke, N, Caroline is same boat as we are and so others. The game has changed and you want to stick to old school stuff. Them days are over
Yup. Those days do not account for the NBA drafting one year after a player’s class graduating from high school, which lead to "one & done". They don’t account for the NIL changes, which makes collegiate play to compete with the G-League and foreign play as an option. They don’t account for the change in the transfer rules. And they don’t allow for a lot more schools investing in their basketball programs and facilities.
All of it changes, and the changes add up to something like parity, at least on the major conference level. The level of competition in the SEC, for one, has been raised. Coaching is better, and better paid through the conference. Facilities are improved too.
And if you take Cal’s statements as he has made them, and explained them, his job is to develop players, and to see them on their way to success later in life. And for many of them that means a period to make sufficient money playing basketball professionally, and change not just their life, but that of their families, and in some cases their communities. And part of that process is develop them as a team, and a winning team, ideally a championship team.
Cal had an important lesson while he was a coach at Memphis. He had a player, Dajuan Marquett Wagner, who wanted to return for another season, and Calipari tore up his scholarship, because Wagner was projected to go in the top of the NBA draft. Where most coaches would have welcomed Wagner back, Cal said you aren’t going to improve you ranking and maybe lower it staying… Go, and take the money. Now drafted by the Cavaliers, 6th overall, Wagner developed a debilitating health problems, and never had a career in the NBA. The difference as huge. As a rookie NBA player he could insure his earnings against disability, as a college player there was no income to insure. (With NIL this situation may have changed somewhat.)
CAL IS NEVER GOING TO ADVISE A PROJECTED HIGH DRAFT PICK TO STICK AROUND, EVEN THOUGH IT WOULD MAKE HIS LIFE EASIER. He allowed Oscar to return, even though he was POY, because he was NOT projected as NBA draft pick. He had upside, where Dajuan did not.
The reason he reacted as he did to draft night, that night long ago was that recruits did not have to assume that you had to be ‘the man’ on a Calipari team to be drafted, or even be a lottery pick in the draft. The importance of the night to UK was that we could show that multiple guys could show out, and get results, and if you were the player showing out, you would get the ‘golden ring’, even if other teammates did so at the same time.
Are we having some development pains this year, yes we are. We have 3 ‘Bigs’ that basically have missed all the pre-season, and nearly half the season. They are having to play themselves into game shape, and make whatever adjustments they have to make in their play. Uno has the biggest advantage, as he had played here before, and played with the team going up to Canada. He may be the least talented of the three, but I think he may be the furthest ahead.
And Reed is a dream come true, and the biggest surprise, as he hasn’t seemed to be phased by the jump from high school to collegiate play. I think we all expected him to be a multi-year player on the team, but if he continues to be projected as a high draft pick, I would not expect we will get that second year from him. I am just ecstatic to watch him while we have the opportunity.
Larry Vaught we’re writing a book for you with all the heavy comments lately. Lol! I know everybody got there opinions but if they don’t enjoy this team something wrong. Even that 78 team that won it all went through mid season conference struggles. No team or coach is going to satisfied everybody
Calipari is a snake oil salesman. Look at his coaching tree him and Kenny Payne lol
Now Rodney says Cal has made other coaches better, right?? Well someone tell Kenny Payne that. Cal has no coaching tree that I know of. This guy is a fraudster delight. Grovel at his feet when Frisbee Business College takes em out in the 2nd round. Same old same old since 2015.
ESPN has predicted that we will finish the season with 9 losses. We will lose again in both the SEC and NCAA tourneys which will give us ANOTHER double digit loss season under Calipari. CBS said the same thing. Are all of you Calipari lovers going to stop watching those stations for being the worst kind of stations for talking about Kentucky that way? The simple truth is that EVERYONE knows that no matter how much talent he brings to Kentucky, Calipari will find a way to F it up.
Reed Shepherd is a special player! Reed will NO doubt lead these Wildcats,to the NCAA championship game, win #9🏆 go big blue, GoCats!!
As the season goes on, this team will mature, their defense will improve, and by tournament time they’ll be a force with which to be reconned. Chemistry doesn’t appear to be out of whack to me. I see only up-side potential.
All you guys with negative comments should chill and put a sock in it…lol